Abstract

Three processes were used for the extraction of total phenol and total flavonoid contents of Anacardium occidentale L. and to determine its antioxidant activity. Whatever the extraction process was, the total flavonoid and total phenol contents were of the same order. With the microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), 666.07 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g dry matter (DM) of total phenol content was obtained from the stem barks, 601.71 mg/100 g DM from the leaves and 69.18 mg quercetin equivalent (QE)/100 g DM from the nuts of cashew. With Soxhlet extraction, 605.47 mg GAE/100 g DM of total phenol content was obtained from the stem barks, 600.38 mg GAE/100 g DM from the leaves, 609.13 mg GAE/100 g DM from the nuts of cashew, then 67.13 mg QE/100 g DM of the total flavonoid content was obtained from the stem barks, 65.13 mg QE/100 g DM from the leaves and 61.75 mg QE/100 g DM from the nuts of cashew. Finally, with mechanical agitation, 608.52 mg GAE/100 g DM of total phenol content was obtained from the stem barks, 604.85 mg GAE/100 g DM from the leaves and 593.47 mg GAE/100 g DM from the nuts of cashew; 76.86 mg QE/100 g DM of total flavonoid content was obtained from the stem barks, 76.31 mg QE/100 g DM from the leaves and 70.39 mg QE/100 g DM from the nuts of cashew. The antioxidant tests revealed that MAE gave better anti-oxidant activity and more phenolic compounds.

Key words: Processes of extraction, antioxidant activity, Anacardium occidentale, microwave-assisted extraction.